The Paper Swan(104)

“I always carry a spare.” He smirked, but the pain in his gut made him flinch when he tried to move. “I think we’ve wasted enough time, don’t you? Kneel. Both of you!”

He was standing at the top of the stairs, facing the room.

“Her first, then you, then the kid,” he said to Damian.

He had it worked out so that any which way, Damian had something to lose. As long as he kept his gun trained on me, he knew Damian wouldn’t try anything. Once he shot me, he’d still have Sierra as leverage.

Damian and I held hands as we knelt. I don’t know when I started crying, but tears were spilling down my cheeks. It had started here, and this is where it was going to end. All three of us in one night.

“Please don’t hurt her,” I begged Victor. “She’s just a little girl.”

“She’s lucky. She’ll go in her sleep,” he replied.

Damian’s fingers squeezed around mine, so tight that I thought my bones would crack. It was the only way he could hold himself back from ripping Victor’s throat. If he went for him, he risked losing me, but if he waited, he risked losing Sierra.

“On five, Damian,” I whispered.

His eyes widened a fraction.

5 . . .

We were going to do this together. No matter what happened to the two of us, we were going to make sure Sierra remained unharmed.

4 . . .

Victor aimed the gun at my head.

3 . . .

I love you, Estebandido. Always you. Only you.

2 . . .

I love you, güerita. Don’t be afraid. Love don’t die.

The gun went off before we moved. My eyes squeezed shut at the deafening bang. I waited for the pain that was sure to follow.

It never came.

Fuck!!!!!!!!!!

He’d shot Damian.

My soul felt an agony so deep, the bullet might as well have ripped through it. Damian’s hand was still in mine, so warm, so real. The pain was so raw that I gasped, forgetting, for a moment, the simple act of how to breathe. A part of me wanted to die right then.

Shoot me. Shoot me now.

But the other part, the part that was a mother, refused to surrender.

Sierra.

I thought of her helpless little form. It was pure torture. I always tucked her in at night, always put her to sleep. I’d skipped that tonight, and now I would never know the sweetness of her breath, the weight of her leg keeping me from leaving, the way she bounced on my bed in the morning.

Wake up, wake up, wake up.

I had lost Damian and now I was going to die, knowing my daughter would be next. How can anyone feel so much pain and still be alive?

Dear Lord, bless my soul. And watch over Sierra.

I couldn’t go on. I heaved through the torment that was clawing at my insides, and squeezed Damian’s hand, anticipating the next bullet.

He squeezed back.

My eyes flew open.

Damian was still kneeling beside me, unharmed. Victor was standing in front of us, eyes vacant, staring straight ahead. His collar was splattered with blood. He stood there for a beat before falling backwards. His body toppled down the stairs. Rafael stood at the foot of the stairs, holding the gun that Victor had dropped earlier.

“I came back for my phone,” he said.

Damian and I stared at each other, and then at him. He’d shot Victor in the back of the head.

“You took him down in one shot,” said Damian, his eyes on the gun that was still smoking in Rafael’s hand.

“I saw a man shoot my mother and father. I wasn’t about to stand by and witness someone do the same to you and Skye.”

Damian let out his breath and wrapped me up in his arms. “You picked a hell of a good day to come through,” he said to Rafael. Our bodies were so tense, it took a few seconds for relief to settle in.

“The wedding would have been crap without a best man.”

We tried to laugh, but none of us could. Victor’s contorted body lay in a pool of blood at the base of the staircase. My knees wobbled when Damian helped me up.

“I thought he killed you.” I clutched his shirt and sobbed.

“I saw myself in him. The way I’d been.” He held me so fiercely I could barely breathe. “You were my saving grace, Skye.”

We clung to each other, acknowledging the glorious miracle of being alive.

“Let’s go check on Sierra,” I said.

“Call the police,” Damian said to Rafael. “And an ambulance. I want to make sure Sierra’s all right. Victor sedated her.”